I can buy a Bulgarian Military Makarov (circle 10) with extra mag, holster for $ 200.00. The pistol is in VG+-EX condition. According to the date code it was mfg'd in '78. I have been sort of looking for an inexpensive CC piece. Does anyone else carry of these and what typr ammo. do you recommend. Any info. appreciated.

I have a Mak I travel with. For target and practice I shoot 95 gr. FMJ from Winchester. For defense I go to Cabelas for their Buffalo Bore 95 gr. JHP. If you can find it and want premium rounds, Hornady offers the 95 gr. "XTP" JHP. There are lots of FMJ target choices available, not so many defense loads. Not necessarily a recommendation... just my preferences.

Makarovs are pretty well made guns. The Bulgarian made ones are are as good or better than the Russian made ones The best ones are East German ones which sometimes have 12 rnd stacked magazines.

I have a Russian one I put a FAC made barrel and compensator on a long time ago. The barrel came with instructions on how to improve the trigger pull and generally slick up the action. It all worked very well. These are very accurate guns, and easy to hit with.

As far as a carry gun goes you could do better, mainly because Maks have alot of sharp edges on them.. But for $200 buy it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because if you need it it will be something you can have in your car or close to you and not worry about defiling. They are more powerful than a .380 by a longshot, and you will easily get someones attention if you shoot them with it.

Another gun to look at in the same class is the CZ82. It uses the same 9mm Makarov cartridge but the gun is sweet! They are in the $225 range usually. J&G Sales usually has some that were ex Chech police guns. These guns were not used much, they were carried for many years in completely enclosed holsters, but the Chech Police only were issued about 10 rounds a year so none of them were shot very much at all.

I have gotten to shoot one about 200 rnds, and I can tell you the gun is easy to shoot, it is accurate, it has few sharp edges, all of which can be knocked off easily, and it can be ran like a modern pistol like a Glock, without a bunch of special training. It won't eat your hands up like a Mak will if you practice with it frequently. Much more confortable to shoot, and better made than a Mak too.

I like my Mak very much, it is close at hand in my recliner chair, and I can definately get at it easily if needed. I'd like to have one in my toolbox in my shop too, but another one has never fallen in my lap. I was hoping a CZ82 would fall into my lap too but not yet. Maybe after christmas.

As far as ammo goes, any of the eastern block ammo will work just fine. Steel cases don't matter as these guns were designed to shoot this stuff. Also if you reload you can make suitable cases by cutting down 9MM Luger cases. The Mak bullets are .364-366 in dia which is much bigger than true 9MM bullets, but the rim size is nearly identical +/-.004, but you must use Makarov dies as the expander plug must expand the 9mm cases to accept the Mak sized bullets. There are a variety of cast bullet designs available as well moulds and plated bullets too.

The only real problem with reloading this cartridge is getting the relatively short fat bullet to start into the case squarely, once you beat that you're home free. There is plenty of Data in current manuals to competantly load this cartridge.